MIDDLEBORO – The Zoning Board of Appeals put the brakes on a $12.7 million renovation to the police station and sent the planners back to the drawing board.

“It’s an absolute mess from a logistics standpoint,” said member Darrin G. DeGrazia on Thursday. “You should have made it a museum and put the police station somewhere else.”

According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the building in question began as a general store, built in 1825 by Colonel Peter Pierce. Over the years the building was converted into a district court house and later to the present police station. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

DeGrazia objected to the town’s fuel depot being sited in the middle of the purposed parking lot, noting the fire department’s ladder truck didn’t have enough room to pull up to the pump.

Dorothy Pulsifer opposed holding thousands of gallons of fuel in an above-ground storage tank next to a children’s playground and suggested the pumps be relocated.

“Anyway we can put pressure on them?” Pulsifer asked.

“We’ll hold it up,” said ZBA Chairman Bruce G. Atwood. “I would never vote for it.’

“It’s going to come down to parking and that stupid fuel depot,” said member Elizabeth Elgosin.

The lot presently holds 70 vehicles and the expansion zoning requires 78 spaces, but the planners reduced the number of parking spaces to 59.

“The only solution you have is to move that filling station and you can’t move it into the park,” Atwood said.

Town Manager Charles J. Cristello promised the pumps will eventually be relocated to a new site, but said there’s not enough money in the budget to make the move during renovations.

The $12.7 million project faces significant hurdles and will be vetted at the May 24 town meeting where a 30-year debt override will be discussed in anticipation of the June 14 ballot vote.